


The Winter Games

by nerdzeword



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 21:57:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5514737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdzeword/pseuds/nerdzeword
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The game's afoot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Winter Games

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SilenyFade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilenyFade/gifts).



> Hey there! This is the first time I've ever done a fic exchange, so it was really interesting having a deadline and prompts, but it was a lot of fun!
> 
> I'd just like to thank my Beta, machinegunmandapanda for not only betaing this, but doing it before she got drunk and started wrapping Christmas presents. That's the mark of a true friend folks.

Draco was not happy. When he thought about it, it was really all the Weasleys’ faults. The twins to be precise. When the first snow of the season came upon them, it would be the twins who would start the snowball fight that would then turn into an all out war, which would then turn into the two day ‘winter games’ event that all houses and ages would participate in. 

Which would bring him here: the sledding races having just finished. (The final contenders being Blaise Zabini and Weasley. Zabini won because Weasley made an error of judgment in the last round and used a featherlight charm on his sled. This, as Granger so eloquently put it after the fact ‘reduced the amount of force propelling him down the hill’) 

Draco was decisively unhappy because the twins had just announced the last event for the night, as it would be getting dark and they had classes the next morning. But even as annoyed as he was about the end of the games, it didn't hold a candle to the irritation he felt in hearing who the competitors would be. 

Draco had always wanted to learn how to ice skate, he had seen some muggles doing it on a lake near his manor one winter and had been fascinated by how they managed to glide across the ice so effortlessly. 

It annoyed him to no end that know-it-all Granger was going to be competing. Because if she was competing it meant she knew how to do it. Which meant she was better than him at yet another thing. He was jealous and he knew it. 

He also knew that he would never tell as long as he lived. 

Granger, for her part, looked nervous. Draco wondered how long it had been since she had practiced. He had certainly never seen her do it before, and he liked to sit by the lake whenever he had a free period, which just so happened to coincide with her free periods. He watched her transfigure her shoes into a pair of figure skates, wondering absentmindedly if he could figure out how to make a pair of his own. 

He wondered if there was a male version of her skates and what they looked like if there were. He glanced around at the other skaters. He assumed most of them were either muggleborn of half blood, because the only ones he recognized were from his year, and no one from his year, other than Granger, was competing.

Granger had moved on and, with the help of one of the Hufflepuff seventh years, was helping some of the younger students transfigure their skates. He noted, a bit pleased, that the skates were in fact the same between the boys and the girls. Maybe he would make his own black though, rather than white as Granger’s were.

Draco pulled his eyes back to the judging table to see who the twins had dragged into judging the contest. They always had at least one teacher on each panel and Draco didn’t think they could possibly beat the Ice castle building competition, where they had somehow miraculously gotten Snape to help judge. Draco had a feeling that Blaise had had something to do with that, as he could be very persuasive when he wanted, and he was almost as into the festivities as the Weasley twins. 

Draco pulled his mind back to the present and looked in shock at the panel of judges. There was Looney Lovegood, a seventh year Slytherin girl, Justin Finch-Fishy or whatever his name was, and Dumbledore. Draco blinked a couple of times. Yup. Still Dumbledore. Why was Dumbledore there? Didn’t he have a school to run or something? 

He shrugged it off and turned his gaze back to his Gryffindor rival. She was now doing stretches. Draco wondered if it was normal to stretch before ice skating. No one else seemed to be doing it. 

“Welcome one!”

“and Welcome all!”

“To the last event of our winter games!” The twins chorused dramatically, using the sonorus charm to amplify their voices. Draco vaguely wondered what they were planning on doing when they graduated later that year, they would make awfully good radio announcers. Them and that Jordan kid. He may have been a bit biased towards Gryffindor, but his quidditch commentary was hilarious. 

“Because we have skaters of all ages and skill levels”

“We’ve decided to do this a bit differently.”

“You will start by doing circles around the rink.” 

“If you fall, you’re out.” Draco thought it seemed simple enough, if a little boring. The twins started the music and Draco watched as the students took to the ‘rink’ on the black lake. He was once again fascinated by how they slid across the ice, almost effortlessly. And on such thin blades too! As he watched the skaters go around, some going faster than others, in fact a couple of the first years looked like they were playing tag, Draco found his eyes drawn once again to Granger.

He told himself it was because she was the only one competing that he actually knew, but really, he knew it was because she was the only one skating who looked like she truly  _ belonged _ on the ice. She had this way of skating, despite the fact that she was one of the slower ones, that screamed ‘I know what I’m doing.’ 

It was only two minutes before the first person fell. It was a second year Ravenclaw and she only laughed as she made her way off the ice. It wasn’t even a minute after that before the first years playing tag ended up knocking each other over as well, two of them sliding head first into a snowbank. Draco smirked. First years were essentially useless, but they did have some entertainment value. 

“Switch it up!”

“You now have to skate around the rink-”

“Backwards!” the twins ended their announcement in super low voices and Draco couldn’t help but laugh. He laughed again as he watched no less than four students fall over trying to turn themselves around. He wasn’t surprised when Granger not only turned around, but did it in such a way that it looked as natural as breathing. 

Draco wanted to be able to do that so bad. 

Within another three minutes, two more people had fallen over, leaving only Granger and the seventh year who had helped the first years with their skates. 

“We’re going to mix it up again.” 

“You two-”

“Are going to take turns”

“Wowing us!” They once again finished together. Draco wasn’t sure what that meant exactly, but judging by the concentrated look on Granger’s face, she obviously did. The seventh year boy went first, spinning on the ice and even leaping off of it at one point. He was good, Draco had to admit, but he lacked the grace that Granger had shown earlier, the type of ease on the ice that you just couldn’t fake. He wondered again when Granger had had the chance to get so comfortable on a pair of skates.

His curiosity only grew when she glided out into the center of the lake. She was a vision, in her muggle jeans and fitted turtleneck sweater, her hair whipping about her head as if it had a life of it’s own. He wondered idly why wizard robes were so loose fitting. Granger had some nice curves underneath those school robes. 

He was right.

The way she glided across the ice was so effortless that she almost looked like she were floating. And that was before she even started spinning. When she spun, she didn’t just spin around on one foot and then stop, no, she kept going. And going. Until Draco was beginning to get dizzy looking at her, and then she picked up one leg, while still spinning, and brought it above her head. 

To say Draco was impressed would be an understatement. He watched the rest of her routine with awestruck eyes as she skated around the rink, doing spins and jumps before finally settling to a stop in front of the judges. Draco watched her chest heave and wondered just how tiring doing those jumps was.

“I think it’s safe to say Miss Granger won.” Dumbledore smiled at her. Granger’s face lit up in a grin and she gave a happy little bounce and clap. Merlin she was adorable. Draco wanted to wash his brain out with soap for even thinking it, but he couldn’t deny it’s accuracy, even to himself.

He followed the crowd to where she was sitting by the lake. Of course her idiot boyfriends had gotten there first and were questioning her on where she had learned to skate like that. She was still breathing heavily and every word she said was coming out in a pant as she tried to answer their questions. Draco rolled his eyes and conjured a water bottle, floating it over to her.

He told himself it was because he wanted to hear her story before she passed out, not because he actually cared or anything. She looked over to find the source of the water and caught his eye, looking surprised for only a moment before returning her gaze to the dynamic duo. 

Apparently muggles had indoor lakes that she liked to visit over summer breaks, and she used to compete when she was younger. Well that explained why she was so good at it. Indoor lakes though? Muggles were weird. 

He caught up with her walking back to the castle after her fanclub had dispersed. 

“Granger.” 

She stopped and turned around to look at him, ”Malfoy.”

“I want to learn how to do that,” he blurted out. She raised an eyebrow. Draco wondered if she was always capable of looking so condescending, or if that was a look she reserved only for him. The thought shouldn’t have made him happy, but it did nonetheless. 

“That’s nice. You do realize it’s a muggle sport, don’t you Malfoy?”

“If it weren’t, I would already know how to do it wouldn’t I?” Her eyebrow shot higher if possible. 

“Why do you want to learn so bad?” Draco shrugged, desperate not to show how- well, desperate, he really was.

“It looks like fun.” Granger dropped her eyebrow and tilted her head to look at him quizzically, as if he were some strange sort of puzzle. Draco took that as a good sign.  
“So will you do it? Will you teach me?” he prompted. She smiled mysteriously. 

“We’ll see,” and then she turned on her heel and walked away. Draco grinned

“Brilliant.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I based this fic off of the second prompt   
> ""Muggle" Talent show. Muggle Studies (after the war a compulsory class) is having the students do a talent show of different things muggles do. They have to research and prepare for the show and their grade depends on the judges panel. Judges can be made up of who ever, can be done in pairs (like dancing or songs) or in singles. I just think it would be fun for Hermione to have this super cool talent that blows Draco away or something similar that he's never seen before since its not wizarding."
> 
> I wanted to keep it closer to the original prompt, but I just couldn't think of anything worth writing. Then I went Ice skating with my roommate and this fic was born out of nowhere. I tried to keep a lot of the basic themes from the prompt. Namely, the super cool talent that blows Draco away, the show and the panel of judges. I hope you like it anyway!


End file.
